Heroes
by TheGreatElisaMousy
Summary: Jake's a hero. Rachel's a hero. Heck, even Tobias is a hero. But me? I'm nothing like them. I'm no hero.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the Animorphs or any of the characters, or whatever. Just this plot belongs to me. Okay?**

_Jake_ is a hero.

He's always there to lead us into whatever insanity we're getting ourselves into, you know? He's the guy strong enough to get us where we need to be, and to get us all out alive. He's the one that we all (yeah, even me) look up to. He's the one that makes the plans, and he's the one we all rely on. He bears all this weight on his shoulders for us, and for the world. You gotta respect a guy like that. He fights for a reason. His brother, Tom, is a Controller, and he still keeps fighting, trying to free his brother. But I think he knows, like I do, that if we had no choice, and we couldn't free Tom, he'd rather we kill him than let him live another day with that Yeerk slug in his head. Jake is my best friend, and the leader of the Animorphs.

_Rachel_ is a hero.

She's pretty, beautiful even, but don't ever let that fool you. She's got this Amazon warrior or whatever that's just waiting to release every time we go into battle. She's all gung-ho about everything, and ready to kick butt whenever we need it. She's good at it, too. She's the bravest out of all of us, and she knows it. She doesn't let anything stop her, and I respect her for that. Yeah, I tease her, but hey, I tease everyone. But she isn't just this ruthless fighter. Underneath all that, there's still a girl under there. I mean, yeah, she can turn into a bear, or an elephant, or a bald eagle, but she's still a girl on the inside. She acts all fearless, but I think I know better. I know a lot more about everyone than they all think. I know Rachel's really terrified inside sometimes, but what makes her so amazing is that she takes that fear and she doesn't let it stop her. She turns it into strength.

_Cassie_ is a hero.

She always there for everyone. A shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to, and a voice of reason. I can see what Jake sees in her, even though she's not really my type. She's sweet, and she's our animal expert here. She's the best morpher, too, even though she keeps trying to tell us that she's not. Whenever we're worried about a new morph, Cassie's there to try it out for us, willingly, too. She's got the answers to all our animal questions, and she puts things in perspective when things start to look a little hopeless (or, more than usual, anyway). I can tell that she's terrified of what we have to do, the secret we have to hide every day. She's got this perfect little family, and she doesn't want to lose it, or ruin it by getting hurt or dying. But she does it anyway, for the sake of everyone she loves, and for the rest of the planet. You really have to respect her for that.

_Ax_ is a hero.

I mean, seriously, he's the only one of his kind on our planet. He's the only Andalite on our side here on Earth. He doesn't have to help us. We're just humans, 'primitive' in comparison to his home world. But he does anyway. I think at first, it was just revenge for his brother's death, but by now, I'm pretty sure he's helping us for our planet. The longer he's been here, the more he likes it here on Earth, and the more he's willing to fight for people that aren't his own. He was the lone survivor when the Dome Ship crashed to Earth, and he carries that in his hearts, fighting for his fallen comrades, and for us as well. He doesn't _have_ to do all that he does for us. Heck, I'm pretty sure he's even broken some of the Andalite laws for us, just to help us win the war… Just because he care enough about what he believes in.

Heck, even _Tobias _is a hero.

He was trapped as a hawk. He could have moped about it. He could have abandoned us to live the life of a hawk. Well, okay, he actually did both, but only for a while. After he snapped out of it, though, he really started helping us as best as he could. He was our ultimate spy. I mean, really, who would suspect a bird, right? Even when things got really dangerous for him, he never backed down. Then the Ellimist gave him back his morphing ability, and somehow got him his human morph. He could have morphed human and stayed for two hours, then live a normal life. But he didn't. He gave up his chance to stay human again for us, for the world. He sacrificed the most out of all of us, giving up his human life to live as a hawk and continue fighting the Yeerks with us.

Me? I'm not like the rest of them. I'm no hero.

I'm a coward. I hate this fighting, and it terrifies me. I'm not ashamed to admit that. My family's already broken. We thought my mom died, but she turned out to be Visser One, and my dad just kinda broke inside when we thought she died. It's tearing me apart that I can't tell him that she's still alive, and that I'm going to save her someday. I have nightmares every night. Sometimes it's about morphing, but lately, they've all ended where I have to kill my mom. You have no idea how many times I've wanted to back out and say 'no'. I almost did, way too many times. I'm a coward, I know that. I don't deserve to be an Animorph.

So why is it me, then? Why am _I_ the one lying here, broken, bleeding, dying? Why am I the sacrifice? Aren't the heroes, the ones we look up to, supposed to be the ones to sacrifice themselves for the greater good or whatever? That way, we can look back and say "You really have to look up to them. They gave their life to save the world". Who's going to look back on me like that? Who's going to see me as the hero I'm _not_? There's no time to morph out, no time to heal. This is it. But I still can't understand. I don't _deserve_ to die a warrior's death. So why?

Maybe… Maybe I am a hero after all…

**Omigod, I really loved writing this. I have no idea what possessed me to write it, but it was fun~ Basic story: Marco knows that everyone else deserves to be looked on as a hero. He thinks that he's not really hero material, however. They're in a battle with the Yeerks, and Marco's hit badly, with no time to demorph. As he's dying, he reflects on his thoughts about everyone, and rethinks his opinion of himself and realizes that yeah, he's a hero, too.**


End file.
